Senate.

• Position: Legislative Reports

Legislation

On October 25, the following bills received Royal Assent by written declaration: C-65--amending the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2; and C-79 - implementing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership between Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The following bills also received Royal Assent by written declaration on November 26: C-62--amending the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act and other Acts; and C-89--providing for the resumption and continuation of postal services.

A traditional Royal Assent ceremony was held in the Senate on December 13. Her Excellency the Governor General gave Royal Assent to the following bills: C-21--amending the Customs Act-, C-47 amending the Export and Import Permits Act and the Criminal Code (permitting accession to the Arms Trade Treaty and other amendments)-, C-51--amending the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act; C-86--Budget Implementation Act 2018; No. 2; C-76 amending the Canada Elections Act and other Acts and to make certain consequential amendments; and C-90 --Appropriation Act 2018-19, No. 3.

Chamber, Procedure and Speaker's Rulings

On October 2, a point of order was raised concerning the relevance of debate. The senator who had the floor when the point of order was raised was speaking to a subamendment and referred to the main motion. The Speaker stated that a fair amount of leeway is afforded senators when speaking to amendments and subamendments given that they relate to a main motion. The Speaker ruled that the senator could continue with his intervention in order to hear how it would unfold.

On November 8, the Speaker ruled on a question of privilege raised by Senator Dennis Patterson on November 1 in relation to events that took place at the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association. The main concern raised was that the meeting was not conducted in accordance with the constitution of the Association.

The Speaker found that one of the four criteria for a question of privilege to be accorded priority was met, namely that a question must "be raised at the earliest opportunity". He then addressed the criterion that a question "be raised to seek a genuine remedy that the Senate has...